Another year full of cockerels....

[closipov]

I had 7 eggs, only 2 hatched and both roos. A friend gave me 4 silkies, 3 ended up bring hens the other a roo. I live my roos. What will happen if I keep them all?

 

[Trimurtisan]

I had 7 eggs, only 2 hatched and both roos. A friend gave me 4 silkies, 3 ended up bring hens the other a roo. I live my roos. What will happen if I keep them all?

You're going to end up with a lot more chickens!

 

[hunthaven]

I bought a dozen eggs; 7 hatched, all were roos. In desperation, I sent pics of the 3 month old roos to the lady who sold me the eggs and asked if by chance ANY of them were pullets. She felt bad (and she is generous), so she sent me free eggs--33 of them. 17 hatched, and I'm happy to say the ratio was about 40/60, mostly pullets. I kept three of them and gave the other 14 away. . I'm happy, but it took some trying!

 

[ronkonkoma]

I had 14/19 hatch out boys . I live in an area where roosters are allowed but all around me they are not. Lots of people want my fertilized eggs and chicks but I’m refraining because I know lots will be boys and then people scramble to rehome in the NY suburbs. . I also read then hens determine the sex? I don’t know if I understand correctly, but If that hens chicks are mostly male you should try another hen and see what happens.

 

[Trimurtisan]

She felt bad (and she is generous), so she sent me free eggs--33 of them.

That's pretty awesome! What a nice thing to do. Kudos to you for giving the rest away too.

 

[Clifton sanders]

I'm just going to vent here for a bit if that's okay. Nearly every hatch I've had this year has been mostly cockerels. I had 6 hatch in March, 1 was a pullet. I had another hatch of 6 in June, and 1 appears to be a pullet. What am I doing wrong??? Shouldn't it be a 50/50 ratio at least? I have very bad chicken karma.

I’ve had more pullets when using a broody hen. The temperature of your incubator MAY cause an increase in cockerels or pullets too but there isn’t really any study that proves this. Google “tricks to get more pullets” and see what you find.

 

[quackcluck]

I'm just going to vent here for a bit if that's okay. Nearly every hatch I've had this year has been mostly cockerels. I had 6 hatch in March, 1 was a pullet. I had another hatch of 6 in June, and 1 appears to be a pullet. What am I doing wrong??? Shouldn't it be a 50/50 ratio at least? I have very bad chicken karma.

Hi, I didn’t read every reply so not sure if someone already suggested this..
I had this same problem last year with several different breeds at different times of year, different hens. 70-80% cockerels in every batch! I was also venting this frustration to a lady who bred RIR as I was buying pullets from her, not willing to hatch them just to get maybe 1or 2 hens. She also bred goats. She told me after years of goat breeding and getting mostly bucks (one year was 17 buck kids to 2 girls!) she found out that apple cider vinegar was affecting the sperm, killing off the sperm with female genes. She was giving them ACV as a health benefit like most of us do for our chooks. The next breeding season, no ACV given, and she had a 50/50 boys and girls again. I haven’t yet tried it myself, but I’m definitely going to try it for my spring hatchlings.

 

[Clifton sanders]

I wonder if anyone has done studies to see if there are variable factors that might influence chick sex. Thinking about things like ph, small variations in temperature, season, even phase of the moon.

Yes. I did a google search. It’s suggested that cockerel eggs don’t go well if they get too cold but pullet eggs do.

 

[Yorkshiregal]

Were they supposed to be sexed? Tractor Supply sells them for sexed for just a few dollars...

I got pullets from TS that turned out to be roosters!!!! not even the breed they were supposed to be???

 

[NebraskaHick]

Based on scientific study done by chickenmadscientist.com Higher incubator temps equals more Roosters. Lower temps equal more pullets. See problem solved!!!
Well not really I kinda just made that up but it sounded good while typing.

Actually, that IS the answer! Sex is determined at fertilization. And they have a higher mortality rate of roosters in the egg with lower temps. The hen controls the temps by how much time she spends on the nest.
I learned this from an article on "Fresh Eggs Daily"
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Apparently it's all about temperature. I've read that if you raise your incubator temperature just half a degree you're more likely to hatch out males; lower the temperature just half a degree and you will likely hatch out more females.

Interestingly, if you hatch under a broody hen, it's thought you're more likely to hatch out more hens. I guess Mother Nature realizes that a flock needs more hens than roosters?

But the temperature at which you store your hatching eggs seems to play a role as well. Try storing the eggs you'll be hatching for several days at 40 degrees Fahrenheit to hatch out more females, instead of the higher, commonly recommended storing temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit. A study done in Australia actually bore out that conclusion.

Now, keep in mind that what you're doing is not changing the sex of the chick inside the egg - that's been predetermined - but for whatever reason, male embryos seem to be more sensitive to low temperatures and those eggs just won't hatch.

So you'll likely have a lower overall hatch rate, but what you do hatch should be a higher percentage of females.
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Full article:
: https://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2016/04/the-secret-to-hatching-hens-not-roosters.html